Adamawa Gov’s Brother in N1Bn Road Projects’ Scam

Alhaji Abubakar Umaru Jibrilla, younger brother to the Adamawa State Governor, Mohammed Umaru Jibrilla Bindow, and his company, UMARAJ NIG. LTD, has been named as one of the failed companies handling the multi-billion naira rural roads projects under the second rural access and mobility (RAMP), Adamawa state projects implementation, jointly funded by the World Bank and the French development Aide agency.
The Adamawa State House of Assembly, Committee on Rural infrastructure, on Wednesday, in a public sitting, threatened to issue a warrant of arrest against the company (UMARAJ) and its proprietor, for collecting over N1 billion from the donor agencies and the state government and not performing up to specifications.

Another company named is Hydrosoil and Resources Company handling the lot 2. of the RAMP 2 PROJECTS.

The company is also believed to have abandoned site after collecting over N1.4 billion.

The companies, were also to have exceeded the lifespan of the contract by over 12 months for no reason and are always requesting for unreasonable contracts reviews.

Speaking on Wednesday, the chairman of the Committee, Hon. Abubakar Maikanti, representing Uba/Gaya State Constituency, said the contractors were shortchanging the government and people of the state by deliberately abandoning sites after collecting huge sums of money from the World Bank.

The state commissioner of rural development and infrastructure, Alhaji Hassan Pakka, accompanied by the state Coordinator, RAMP 2 PROJECTS, Engineer, Mohammed Abbas, complained of the unwholesome atitude of the companies and their director of trying to mislead the agency on the status of the projects.

They would write that they have completed their work but whenever we cross check, we find that that is not the case. They are also always asking for outrageous review of the contract sum and when you adjust such reviews to normal rate, they would abandon sites.

Engineer Abbas told the committee that most of the roads constructed by the company was poorly done as it did not comply with the specifications.

Speaking at the hearing, the majority leader of the Assembly, Hon. Hassan Barguma, condemned the unwholesome method adopted by the contractor, stressing that it was contrary to the philosophy of the State Governor, who always emphasised excellence in whatever he is associated with.

“The Governor would not be happy with this situation, he would never encourage his brother to do shady jobs. And called on the ministry of rural development and infrastructure to compel the contractor to rectify all the lapses on the roads or a warrant of arrest would be issued against the contractor.

“We cannot condone such inpunity, he is just dropping his brother’s name to intimidate civil servants, we would put a stop to such things”.

The state coordinator of the RAMP 2 PROJECTS, was also directed to explain, within two weeks, how over N250 million counterpart funding released by the state government was utilised, when all the road projects were being funded by donor agencies.Photo: